Sarah Palin's reality show debuts on US TV

The first episode of Sarah Palin's reality television show about Alaska has been broadcast to viewers across the United States.

In "Sarah Palin's Alaska" the former Republican vice-presidential candidate was shown climbing a section of the highest mountain in North America, leaping across dangerous crevices, watching bears in the wild, salmon fishing, shooting a gun and flying in a sea plane.

She was also shown making cupcakes with her mischievous daughter Piper, nine, and having difficulties dealing with her teenage daughter Willow.

Mrs Palin has described the eight-part travelogue as a way of introducing viewers to America's "final frontier," the wilderness of her home state of Alaska.

But the show is being seen by some as a calling card for a 2012 presidential bid.

In the first episode her strong family values were showcased and she mixed descriptions of Alaska's awe-inspiring scenery with semi-political messages.

While watching bears she says: "I love watching these mama bears. They've got a nature that humankind could learn from.

"She's trying to show her cubs 'Nobody's gonna do it for you - you get out there and do it yourself guys.'"

Mrs Palin also used the first episode to criticise author Joe McGinniss who has moved next door to her in Wasilla, Alaska to work on a book about her.

She pointed out a 14ft fence her husband Todd had built between the two properties , adding: "What we just did, others could look and say 'Oh, this is what we need to do to secure our nation's border.'" Although the show focused on recreation, Mrs Palin was also shown appearing from a home studio on Fox News.

Her daughter Piper told the camera: "Mum is super busy. She's addicted to the Blackberry."

Mrs Palin was listed as executive producer on the show which was broadcast on TLC, originally The Learning Channel.

It is produced by Mark Burnett, the Briton who produced the hugely successful reality television show "Survivor."

Professor Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a specialist in political rhetoric at the University of Pennsylvania, said: "What all this suggests is that she's crafting her lifestyle and her biography as typifying a person who's independent, rugged, resilient, in touch with nature, and has learned life lessons that she can bring into governance if she moves back into governance."